Eventful weekend (contd.)

Back again.

Friday night to early Saturday morning saw Bern enthralled to thousands of people in peregrination from one museum to another, with the odd insurance company and church thrown in for good measure. It was Museum Night again, a wonderfully festive, peaceful event for night owls and children who love staying out late. Here are some impressions.
The Bundeshaus (federal parliament building) wrapped because it's being renovated. The wrap provided a perfect canvas for the light show. The outlines of moths are the Museumsnacht's emblem.No, it wasn't raining or snowing -- at least not when I took these photos at about 8:30 PM. A few years ago, the central square of Bern, Bundesplatz, received a new covering of green-hued gneiss from the quarry at Vals in the Grisons. It's beautiful in and of itself but vastly benefits from twenty-six water spouts set into the ground. From the first day of spring until the last day of autumn each year, an orchestrated, variegated game of water jets entertains the crowds. Kids love to run in and out of the columns of water. Sadly, my camera isn't sophisticated enough for night-time shots of water jets.

I think I'll have to declare some of these photos as experimental pix). A night-time view from the "Münsterplattform" across the Aare river shows the Museum of History glowing red; way below the bridge, a blue gleam betrays one of our more popular riverside watering holes.

Another experimental picture, the inside of Bern cathedral, the Münster. This was the first Museumsnacht that the Münster opened its doors to the crowds, starting with a long bell-ringing session at six and closing at two AM, with a moment of true magic at midnight.

I was unaware of what this might look like -- am reminded just a bit of those laparoscopic photos of the insides of our bodies. The golden gleam lower left is the newly restored organ at the western end of the nave.

Normally the sandstone structure is a dull grey-green. The red lighting actually brought out the magic of the place. The crowds loved the special atmosphere inside the church: the benches had been removed from the centre and arranged along the sides, creating a wide esplanade. I was reminded of Milan's Duomo, which also has no seats inside, or of any Mediterranean town square: the crowds were happy to sit and watch and listen, or walk up and down, enjoying the freedom to explore the familiar gothic structure without the impediment of benches.
What attracted me in the first place was the promise of the restored organ fitted with groundbreaking equipment that permits the organist to coax unheard sounds from the venerable pipes. He was joined by various musicians -- the great double bass player Joëlle Léandre among them, and Martin Roos on Alphorn, Buechel and Waldhorn. Fantastic!

What the kids and not a few adults loved most was a shower of silver stars -- scintillating, gleaming confetti -- raining down from the ceiling above the choir: This kid wasn't the only one enraptured by the unusual sight:
Yes, of course there were critical voices saying one shouldn't open the church to such events. But why ever not? I found the atmosphere peaceful, magical, wonderful. The night held one more surprise. Which I'll present in the next post. TTNF!